Product Description

At last, a decorating book that teaches anyone how to achieve the look they want, using the space they have, the things they like and the budget they can afford. In fact, Lauri Ward demonstrates how to make dramatic changes to any home without spending a penny! In her unique book, Lauri Ward identifies the ten most common decorating mistakes and illustrates how they can be corrected without hiring a professional decorator. Using real before-and-after examples, complete with photographs and drawings, Use What You Have Decorating shows what most people do wrong--and how errors can be remedied in short order, easily and economically. Different from any other interior design book, Use What You Have Decorating provides the principles and techniques necessary not only to create an instant transformation but also to make the right choices and purchases in the future. And unlike most decorating books, this one remains timeless because it doesn't depend on current fads or fashions. It allows anyone to have the most inviting home based on the best taste--their own. Use What You Have Decorating works with any style of furniture, from traditional to contemporary; with any size room or home, from studio to estate; with any budget, at any stage of life and regardless of style or taste of each individual.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9190 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-01
• Released on: 1999-09-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.com Review
Finally, finally, a practical home-decorating book for the reader who is not a millionaire! Rather than call in a professional design consultant to tell you which walls "must go" and throwing out everything you own in favor of new and expensive designer fabrics, furniture, and fixtures, Ward starts with what you already have and makes dramatic transformations by arrangement, use of color, and a few inexpensive additions of objects or materials. Her idea is to use what you already have and like, and operate on a budget you can afford to make your home more satisfying and aesthetically pleasing to you without being a slave to passing trends, fads, and radical transformations that end up making you feel like a stranger in your own home.

Among the many tips and guidelines, Ward starts with the top 10 decorating mistakes that professionals all know about, but that anyone can recognize and fix. She covers diagnosing problems that jar the eyes, offers suggestions on items to banish and others to borrow from elsewhere in the home to create more visual appeal, talks about how to shop for furniture that will work with what you already own, offers tips for new homeowners and people just starting out to make older furniture work in new spaces, and covers the kinds of dramatic improvements possible through the use of the right artwork, accessories, and lighting. This is a great gift book for newlyweds, new homeowners, or anyone interested in creative, lively home decorating without breaking the bank. --Mark A. Hetts

From Library Journal
Ward, founder of Use What You Have Interiors, shares her ten design considerations, such as making a comfortable conversation area, identifying a room's focal point, and using light correctly, for transforming homes into livable, attractive spaces. She devotes a chapter to each of these principles with before-and-after pictures of clients' homes, identifying what the problems are and how to correct them. In each case, she includes a list of what was eliminated, borrowed from other rooms, or bought. Focusing on living and dining rooms, Ward concludes with a brief discussion of kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms. Never advocating a particular style, except for an uncluttered look, her book will be a practical purchase for public libraries.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Can you carry on a decent living-room conversation without screaming? Do the accessories in your dining room make you wince? You need the one-day decorator, who--as created and popularized by Ward--scrutinizes, diagnoses, and moves furniture and accessories to create more harmonious spaces in just 24 hours or less! In these pages, then, are how-to summaries, along with nearly 25 before-and-after stories and photographs. All information is clustered around the 10 most common decorating mistakes, from creation of a bad conversation area to incorrect use of lighting. Each cluster includes illustrations of right and wrong; a list of what was banished, borrowed, or bought; a "to-do" checklist or two; and personal tales and hints that illuminate her principles. Anyone for joining a "destroy the doilies" club? Good information, packaged in logical fashion and helpful to readers for turning their homes into something suitable for House Beautiful. Barbara Jacobs

Customer Reviews

Good book but it gets tiresome
Laurie Ward has hit on a great idea here - redecorating with your own stuff. And she does give some great advice in this book about creating a conversation area situated around a focal point, and about how high to hang art. I have been "tweaking" my house ever since I read the book and for the most part her suggestions are very helpful. I also enjoyed the "before" and "after" photos of real peoples' homes. But a couple things bothered me about this book. The first two-thirds of the book are basically paraphrased repetitions of this idea: create a U-shaped conversation area around a focal point. By the fifth or sixth example, you're thinking "gee, I wonder what genius furniture arrangement she'll come up with this time...SURPRISE! U-shaped conversation area!" She gives only a little information on how to re-arrange a dining room, bedroom, bathroom, or ANY OTHER room in the house (and what about those of us with open floor plans? throw me a bone here!), and what few suggestions she does give seem to have been added as an afterthought. The other thing I did not like is a matter of taste more than anything else: I thought some of her advice was a bit old-school (and not in a good way), in particular her advice about how to arrange and group art and other decorative objects (i.e., "don't mix media"), but also her advice against using fridge magnets and patterned paper towels comes off as a bit snobby. However, overall I do recommend the book if you need some help rearranging your living room.

practical budget friendly
I give the book a 4 star rating. Would have been good if we had some colour photos and show some living rooms that do not have the fire place a the focal point of the room but some other feature. Also how do you decorate a room with steep dormer features, that create angles. I like Lauri's books though I have Home Therapy.

I love this book!
I am a professional interior designer and I found this book great because it provides great information in a easy to read format. I read more than half the book in one evening. Some people have stated that even though they love the book they wished it was in color. I love the book in black and white because the emphasis really is on the placement and not so much the color. I find that when items are related in color it is easy for the eye to make the "connection" and ignore the real placement of the items. When the pictures are in black and white, it forces the eye to look at where and how the items are placed. This is a great book and I would recommend it to the novice, lay person, or professional designer/decorator looking to add an additional service that they can offer their clients. I give it two thumbs up!